


Children of the Awakening

by unimooseaday



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Multi, Zombie!eren, Zombies, but also 1800's, more to come - Freeform, zombie!armin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-03-13 13:32:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3383372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unimooseaday/pseuds/unimooseaday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Eren wakes up in a pine box 6 feet under he starts to flip.<br/>When he gets to the surface and finds that he has been dead for over 100 years he flips more.<br/>With everything so confusing and Armin's grave yet to be found Eren's second life looks like its going to be an interesting one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Pine Box

       There is a certain brand of panic that comes with waking up in a pine box. The earthy smell pushing in on you from all sides and not the slightest bit of movement, unless you count the bugs. Eren jerks  when he feels something skitter down his arm. It's too dark to tell if it was real or just his imagination. Maybe the candle went out, he thinks, trying to rationalize the situation and null his fear. But when an attempt to sit up ends with a hard slam against the wood of the lid Eren can really only come to one solution: he was buried alive.   
       That's when the panicking starts. Frantic hands slam against the walls trying to find any weak spot in the wood. Eren can not imagine how he got here; the last thing he remembers is seeing a crowd of people all cheering for the executioner to drop the floor out and leave his life to the mercy of the noose. Then his hands find purchase on something: there was a splinter in the roof of the coffin, with just enough room for him to grab and pull. There was a loud snap, followed by a cascade of dirt flowing in. It was moist and Eren was sure he could feel more bugs crawling into him. He slowly pushed a hand up, his eyes pressed shut against the gritting soil. He tried to pull himself up, but as he was only holding on to loose dirt, it only caused more to fall into his coffin. Just thinking my coffin made the whole situation worse. It gave the rock of anxiety nestled in his stomach a couple extra pounds. _I'm dead._ He thought. _They don't bury the living._   
       Eren leaned back up against the dirt wall behind him and pressed his eyes together even tighter. Would he die again? Starve? Go mad? His mind was suddenly flooded with pictures of his his mom. Her hair pulled back and apron loose around her waist. Eren could see it clearer than he had in years, since her death. Green eyes sparkling as she told him a story, or taught him his numbers. Would he see her again if he gave up? Let the earth consume him. It was tempting to stay there with his mother, in the comfort of her arms. To go back to learning letters at the table or playing in the garden with Armin. 

_…..Armin_

A red splattered wall outpaced the vision of his mother, blood dripping down and clinging to the pores in the cement.

_No._   
_Armin, what...._

A sudden gasp filled his throat with dirt.   
With a force of adrenaline he didn't know he still had, Eren began to climb.


	2. The White Tent

      The rush of the cool air on Eren's hand was a blessing. It showed him the end to the seemingly endless tunnel that he was pushing through. He used his first breath to laugh. It was a humorless laugh, one of relief. The stars above seemed to call down to him, telling him he was free. He let out one last loud bark of laughter before closing his eyes and sighing softly. Everything ached and his fingers were bleeding, but spread out like that with his arms at his sides and one leg still buried, he could feel nothing.   
A warm hand suddenly pressed against Eren's wrist. His hand recoiled against his chest as his eyes snapped open. Leaning above him was a boy that looked a few years older and had more freckles than anyone Eren had ever seen in his life.   
“Angels....” Eren whispered   
      The boy tilted his head in confusion. “Angels....no, we're not angels, we're uh ..... well. Here, let me help you up. I'm Marco by the way. ” The grip on Eren's wrist tightened. “Oh! Well I suppose I should dig you out first... um.” With a groan Eren pulled his leg out of the grave and rolled onto his stomach. Taking a deep breath he pushed himself up with quivering arms until he was kneeling, hands and knees pushing into the ground, fingers curling around the cool grass.    
Then promptly vomited.   
      The sharp smell of stomach acid was replaced with the equally foul odor of blood. A final drip left his bottom lip and landed on the rest with a splat. It glopped down into the other contents of his stomach, which resembled mud more than anything he would ever eat. Eren watched with disgusted horror as a small white maggot crawled out. He shot backwards onto his knees, the only thing keeping him from falling back in his grave was Marco's hand on his shoulder.   
      “You okay?” Marco asked tentatively, as if Eren was something to be scared of. He stayed quiet, continuing to stare as more white bugs crawled out of his vomit. “I know this is scary,” that tone was back. Why is Marco scared? Eren thought. I can barely even move without vomiting. “But if you can stand we can walk to someone who can explain everything.” Marco watched carefully as Eren's head turned to face him. “I don't...” his tone was more of a frightened child’s than a teenage boy's. “...I may puke again” His eyes shifted back to the maggots. Marco's hand slid down to rub comforting circles on his back, while providing support as the right one moved to pull Eren up. “Typically you will only vomit once, just to clear your stomach. It shouldn’t happen again.”  
      Once Eren was standing up, with help of course, he got a good look at the cemetery. He and Armin had passed it daily, and the last time he saw it was just a week before his execution. It's image was still clear in his mind, gravestones standing straight and dark in sharp contrast to the swaying green of the grass, the Cartwrite mausoleum at the center towering over the other families plots. A cursory glance told him much had changed since then. The once proud tombstones were now crumbling and pale, letters nearly washed away. The power of the Cartwrite family was lost in a sea of larger, sturdier memorials. The Jesus statue on top was missing an arm, and the head looked like it had been reattached. In the back, were he remembered the Arlert's reserved plot sitting, was a stone larger than any other in sight. Eren quickly looked away and back towards Marco.   
  
*********  
      They had walked across the cemetery to a plot were a few tents were set up. Eren recognized them from the newspapers as some sort of medical tents. The one Marco led him into, however seemed more like a schoolhouse than anything. Rows of folding chairs filled the tent to the max. The first few rows were already full and a man was walking down them with a clipboard, asking each of the occupants a series of questions before giving them a slip and moving on. Marco had explained to him that this was the tent for the non-violent. Which really did not explain anything, but did make Eren think of the way Mr. Hollman separated his cattle. He had three kinds, the angels, the devils, and the Brenda’s. The angels always complied, you could “Let e'm in bed wi'ch ya if ya wanted to”. The demons were the ones you milked with a caution. The Brenda's were named after Mr. Hollman's first wife and sent to his farm straight from Lucifer himself.   
      Marco pointed him to the next open seat with a quick, “Thomas will help you soon”, before rushing back outside. There was nothing particularly interesting about the tent. White cloth stretched over black bars. A crate at the front had a lamp on it, which Eren thought nothing of at first. It was an odd color, not the dark black he was used to. The light green he could excuse but how did they get the handle such a bright orange? He was sure Armin would know, one of his books had to have something about lantern colors in it. Eren's train of thought was interrupted by someone plonking into the empty chair next to him. The boy had on a strange suit. Eren had seen men in suits before, but never one like this. It was pale blue and oddly fit, it was strange to Eren that he was completely clean. The boys hair was even odder, with the sides shaven down to the root. The center stood up proud and tall like an Indian’s. Eren looked down at his own clothes. There wasn’t much to look at though, just enough to protect his decency. The only part of his burial outfit left in one piece was the key that hung around his neck. Eren looked back up at the indian boy, once again taking in his strange attire. The boy turned his head and meet Erens eyes.

“Don't knock the Suit bro. It's a classic.” Indian said with a flourished hand motion that shocked Eren.

“I wasn't! Just your hair... are you an Indian?”

The other boy laughed. “No! This is a Mohawk dude! It's classic too!”

There was a brief silence as Eren tried to understand what the hell was going on. The other boy stuck out his hand.

“I'm Connie. What’s your name? Ya know... you look kinda familiar. Where did you go to school?”

Eren grasped Connie’s hand and shook it firmly, happy to have a question he could answer.

“My name is Eren Jeager. And the same place everyone goes to school, the schoolhouse.”

Connie's eyes widened and he slid away.

“Dear god...”

There was that fear again; the same as Marco, same as his father, the same as his town. Eren reached out to Connie, but stopped when the other boy flinched back so hard he fell out of his chair. The person sitting in front of him, a woman with a lopsided high bun, gave an aggravated grunt as she turned around in her chair to glare at Connie.

“Please get back in your chair Connie. This isn't the time for your shit, okay?”

Thomas, the clipboard man, finally reached them.

“You!” He directed at Eren “What’s your name, age, and year of birth?”

Connie ignored the woman’s instruction, standing up on shaky legs to nervously whisper. “Thomas that's...”   
“I was born in 1881,” Eren began, “I'm 17 years old, and My name is....”    
“...Eren Jeager.” Connie finished, looking uneasy.  
Thomas's pen stopped moving. “What did you just say?” He asked, voice low and quivering.   
“I was born in 1881, I'm 17 years old, and my name is Eren Jeager.” repeated Eren, his voice shaking. A familiar feeling settled in his stomach.

The fear.   
“Connie go get Levi” Thomas stuttered  
It was back.  
  
  
  


**  
**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Working on new chapters!  
> Anyone wanna Beta by the way. I know that stuff needs work!


	3. The New World

 

      It was rare for Levi to have a honest “good day”; being dead does that to you. Today, however, had not been completely awful, he should have known it was gonna end shitty. It was Friday the 13th after all.

 

      He was almost sleeping when the Wake Bell sounded. That piercing shriek meant half the damn cemetery was going to stitch their rotten asses back together and take a nice walk in the moonlight. It also meant he had to get up and go make sure no one got stabbed; it was his job to oversee the awakenings. Every time God and his little winged fucks decided they wanted to screw things around a bit and literally raise hell, Levi had to make sure everything ran smoothly. Well, as smoothly as fucking resurrection could be. He rolled out of bed with disdain and started to get dressed. _Well, this is going to be fun_.

********

      When he got to the cemetery, Levi was greeted with the sight of the ever standing Medical Tents. They were close together, sitting in a field that had once been reserved for family plots but now served as an Ellis Island to the World of the Living. The tent's were worn down. Despite their high quality seven years of wear and tear had forced them into a tattered state. A  clean one popped up occasionally; replacements for the ones that had been too worn down to continue functioning. Graves surrounded them, sticking out of the ground in a similar fashion to the tents. Some were clean, others torn down and broken. The grass throughout the cemetery was dry and brown; years of repetitively being pushed up by walking corpses had scattered mounds of dirt over the formerly vibrant lawn.

      When the dead came back, they would be separated into one of those tents depending on how well mannered and well repaired they were upon awakening.

      His own tent was the closest to the parking lot and served as a command center. After parking his car, Levi took a moment to access the situation. There didn't seem to have been that many who came back, in comparison with previous Awakenings. A group of the Awakened huddled together around a large construction light.

      Since the Awakenings happened at night, temporary lights had been set up around the cemetery as light sources. The word temporary to be taken with a grain of salt because that was seven years ago. Another group of the Awakened was being lead by a volunteer to one of the medical tents. One of the women in the group was holding her arm in her hand, staring at it with an odd fascination.

 

Levi got out of his car and headed toward his tent, hoping to avoid any contact. He trusted the volunteers to keep it all in check.

I'm too tired for this shit. he thought bitterly.

Running a hand through his hair Levi took one last glance to make sure everything was in order before slipping in. The flap had just barely fluttered closed when he heard a shout.

“Levi!”

His eyes fell closed and he let out a deep sigh. Spinning on one heel, he turned and poked his torso back out the opening. Levi didn't answer, just stared incredulously at the boy in front of him.

He raised an eyebrow.

“Springer?”

Connie smiled “Alive and in person sir! But..." He hesitated, "...Well... There is something bad.”

Levi stepped out of the tent.

“Anything but zombies” He deadpanned.

Connie looked to the side awkwardly.  “What about serial killer zombies?” he offered with a tilted smile.

Fuck.

********

 

      After Thomas had sent Connie to fetch Levi, he had dragged Eren to the front of the tent and slammed him into a seat, running back to taking people’s information. Eren's half filled out slip fell to the floor. He leaned down to pick it up, flipping it front and back as he looked at it. The writing on it was near perfect. It looked like something out of a newspaper. The paper itself was a shocking orange. _These people and their orange_. The slip had all of the information he had given Thomas on it in wet black ink. Scribbled across the top in bright red was a series of numbers, 2-13-2015. At first he was confused; it looked like a date, but it _couldn’t_ be 2015. That was -he did the math on his fingers- _116 years!_

As Thomas walked by again to get new slips Eren reached out to grab his arm. Thomas jerked his arm back, bringing it close to his chest and cradling it protectively.

“O… Oh.” Eren stuttered, pulling back his hand. “Sorry. This slip,” He held up the orange piece of paper, “says it is 2015, but... Well, that's 168 years after..... what I remember.”

Thomas looked scared. “Uh... Well, it's... um...” A voice from the flap of the tent interrupted him.

“It's been 117 years, shithole.”

      Looking around Thomas, Eren saw a short man standing with Connie, whose head, he now noticed, was stuck in a slightly off center position. The man had a scar running along his neck that made his snarling features seem even more intimidating.

“Thomas, we’re taking him to the station. Does he have a slip?” His voice claimed dominance over the rest of the tent. Thomas nodded curtly.

“Good. Jeager,” he grabbed Eren around his upper arm, “with me.” Then he hauled him out of the chair and dragged him out of the tent.

“Ow! Don't grab so hard!” Eren yelped, trying to pry Levis fingers off before they bruised. “It hurts!”

Levi stopped cold, turning around to look Eren dead in the eye.

“Kid, you don't really have much leeway when asking me to stop because something hurts.” Then he speed up again.

      Finally they got to the end of the tents. There was a flat space, no trees or grass. On it there were numerous boxes. There general square shape and four wheel structure reminded him of carriages, but the lack of any kind of horse told him they were something else.

“Who brought you in?”

Levi’s voice brought Eren out of his confusion.

“What?”

Levi huffed, conveying his impatience.

“Who brought you from your grave to the tents?”

“I don't remember his name,” Eren replied, “but he had.. uh... freckles. I think?” He shrugged, not knowing any more information about the other boy.

Levi looked back at the tent site. Near the edge of the graveyard was Marco helping a woman with a horrid yellow dress into a tent. She seemed to be giving him a hard time. Connie's eyes widened and a smile split his face.

“Oh man, Marco! It's been forever!”

Eren recognized the name.

“Yeah, his name was Marco!” He exclaimed.

Levi nodded, then turned to Connie. “Go and tell Marco to come here; take that puke-stain of a woman off his hands too, will you?”

       With a hasty, “Yes sir”, he ran off. When Marco saw Connie he forgot the woman completely, turning to give Connie a tight hug that seemed as if it could kill him all over again. When smiles and reintroductions were over, Connie pointed back to where Levi's grip on Eren's arm was still bordering on agonizing. With one last pat on the shoulder, Marco ran over to the parking lot.

“Connie's back! I can't believe it!” He said, bursting with happiness.

Levi’s expression didn't change.

“Yeah, guess who else came back too?”

If at all possible Marco's smile got bigger

“Who?” he breathed out.

“Eren Jeager.”

The smile faded completely. His back straightened and his eyes shifted to look at Eren, then back at Levi, who nodded.

“Oh” Marco breathed out, then looked down. “I didn't....” his head shot up, hair moving in a 'swish' that was very uncharacteristic of the scene. “He didn't...do anything did he?” Marco's eyes held steady on Eren, watching him as though he was a wild creature sprung and ready for attack. Levi pushed Eren towards the lot.

Without turning back to Marco he said, “No. But that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have. Be more careful Bodt, you can't half-ass these things.”

Marco nodded furiously.

“You’re driving, hurry up.”

*********

 

      Apparently when Levi said Marco was driving, he meant Marco had to drive Eren all the way across town to the station all by himself. Ok, he thought, this isn't too bad. _I suppose the freak out in the beginning was a bit bad, but..... shell shocked is easy to deal with_. He looked over at his passenger. Eren was sitting straight up in his seat, eyes pressed closed, and hands gripping on for dear life. He let out a little squeak every time the car had any turbulence. If Marco was being honest he would say the kid looked close to tears.

      Getting Eren into the car had not been difficult. Levi had been there to scare Eren into doing pretty much anything. Once they got one of his wrists secured to the door with a pair of handcuffs everything seemed to be going alright, but the second the engine started everything had gone to hell. Eren had jumped nearly seven feet in the air. His hands flew out, one clinging on the door handle and the other landing on Marco’s bicep. A position they hadn’t moved from. “What the hell!” he’d screamed, head turning toward Marco, eyes wide and fearful.

“This thing isn't gonna move on it's own…” Eren whined, eyes sliding down to the steering wheel as he whispered, “...will it?” sounding more like a frightened child than a convicted murderer.

Levi laughed and leaned into the passenger window.

“You betcha brat. This thing is gonna fly down the road like a cat on a jet pack. With you inside.”

At this point Eren looked ready to vomit.

“What's a jet pack?!”

Eren never got his answer due to Levi cutting in.

“Marco, you have your shit right? I don’t need to worry about this.”

Marco patted his side holster until he found the gun stashed there,then nodded at Levi.

“Then why the fuck are you still here?”

When Marco started to slowly back out of the parking spot Eren began to whine. It started low but the further they got from where the car was originally parked the louder he got. Eventually he just pinned his eyes shut.

Now that they were on the road Marco was beginning to pity him.

“Look Eren. This is safe. It's called a car and pretty much everyone has one. Nothing is going to happen to you!” He tried to be a comfort. One of Eren's eyes peaked open to glance at Marco.

“Then what's a jet pack?”

 _How the heck do you describe a jet pack?!_ Marco panicked.

“Um... I guess it is kinda like a backpack. But it can fly? I guess I really don't know.”

Eren seemed to calm down a little. His right hand was still clamped down on the bar he was cuffed to, but he had opened his eyes and was silently watching the trees go by. He grew solemn though.

“Marco?” he asked tentatively about five minutes into the car ride. Marco tilted his head, the soft voice stirring his sympathies.

“What is going on?” Eren spoke, his voice low and wavering.

      That's when Marco remembered than Eren had never gotten past registration. All the necessary, by law, steps that the Awakened need to go through to become accustomed not only to the modern world but life as an Awakened. He had no idea what had happened, how much things had changed and how he would go on from there.

      Marco knew that most others wouldn’t have even tried to calm Eren down, let alone give him the speech out of the goodness of their hearts. It was Eren Jeager after all. Marco remembered learning about him in school, on a field trip to the historical museum. They had gone through the local section, mostly filled with rich old white men taking things from everyone else. But one section caught his eye, it caught everyone’s eye. The famous Eren Jeager case, claimed to be “Trost’s own H.H.Holmes!” Marco couldn’t believe that it was the same boy sitting next to him looking hopefully with eyes that were so lost.

So he took pity.

      “The whole thing started about seven years ago. A bunch of corpses just came back. Some were violent, some not, but we have this whole zombie trope. The dead coming back as cannibalistic hunters thing. So most of them were killed. There were bodies in the streets for days. A few weren't slaughtered though; Levi is one, and everyone realized that they were just … people I guess. So the next time we had an Awakening they set up the tents and they set up laws and such. There have been about 15 since then, give or take. You'll get put with a foster family for now, well... maybe not you, but generally…” Marco paused. His fingers curling tighter around the steering wheel. He brought his eyes up to meet Eren’s, whose confused gaze was conflicting with the mental image history had painted of him.

 

“I don't know what they're going to do with you...”

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to publish this one!  
> Thank you so much to purewhiteshadow for being my Beta and helping with the grammar and situational errors!


	4. And then he heard the gunshot.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This world is so different from everything Eren used to know. And everyone knows who he is WTF.

          The car ride continued in a thoughtful silence, only occasionally interrupted by the clanging of Eren’s handcuffs. Eren stared out the window. What Marco told him seemed too crazy to be true, even if he was living proof. In the window, his reflection showed a pale face, a white line circled his neck just under the jaw. He brought a hand up to gently trace it with his finger. The nail was cracked and bloody, with dirt pressed into every split. His hair was a mess, long strands snarled and caked against his skull. His eyes, normally such a bright shade of green, had become a sickly shade of gray and sunken further into his skull. ‘ _ I look like the beggar man mother used to feed on sundays’ _ Eren thought.

          The light press of his finger suddenly turned rough and hot. The inside of Marcos car disappeared and his mind was consumed with the loud chants and accusations of the crowd below. The horrible thumping that filled his chest made it impossible to breathe as the fear of the mob threatened to consume him. 

          A shrill ring broke Eren away from his reflection. He turned to face Marco in the driver's seat, pulling on his cuffed wrist in the process. 

          “What is that?” Eren asked, breathless, peering at the flat object in Marco’s hand that appeared to be making the annoying ringing sound. Marco didn't respond, but brought the object up to the side of his face and spoke to it. 

“Look Jean this really isn’t a good time.” Despite starting the conversation Marco seemed to be more focused on driving. 

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Yes, I know. I work there.” 

“Uh...Well someone but..”  Marco’s eyes nervously shifted off the road and towards Eren. 

Marco was more forceful in his response than Eren expected out of him.“No. I can’t really... Connie came back!”

          Eren remembered, than, being little and playing with some of the other children by the big tree on the edge of town. They had been playing war using a fake telegraph constructed out of a few rocks and some old spoons. None of them knew how to use Morse Code though, so they just talked into the spoons. That is what this reminded Eren of. 

          Marco’s one sided conversation was confusing to Eren. Not only did he not understand who Marco was talking to or how he had managed to do it, but Marco seemed nervous.

          So Eren decided his best course of action would be to ask him about it. “Who are you talking to?” 

Marco’s head turned briefly toward Eren to shush him.

“No Jean, that’s not him.”

“It’s uh… another one of the awakened. I just need to drive them to the station.” Marco moved the flat object to his other ear as he turned the car. 

“Oh. No one big.” His eyes flickered onto Eren. 

“Um...Eren Jeager...” A loud yell burst from the phone.

“No! Look you don't need to…” Marco seemed to get more worked up every time he responded. 

“Jean stop.”

“Jean!” 

          Before he was even done speaking Marco pulled the flat object away from his face and slammed it down into a section of the seat that separated him from Marco. . He used his left hand to rub his face mumbling something about a “stupid Jean.”.

          Now that the conversation seemed to have ended Eren tried to get his answers. 

“What is that thing?” He asked, pointing to the flat object. 

“Look. I’m not really in the mood to explain any further, but it is called a cell phone. You can talk to people on it.” Answered Marco, keeping his eyes on the road.

Eren nodded. “Oh, ok. So who were you talking to? Jean? Who is that?” He turned partly in his seat, better angled away from the window. 

          Placing both hands on the wheel and looking at Eren, Marco debated in his head whether or not to tell the truth. In normal circumstances, he would not hesitate to admit that Jean was his boyfriend, but considering what he knew about Eren’s case, Marco decided this was not normal circumstances. 

"A friend of mine. He was seeing if I wanted to come over. It's nothing. Go back to looking out the window." Marco responded curtly. 

          Though slightly offended by Marco's dismissal of his attempt at conversation, Eren turned back toward the window. His eyes meet their reflection and Eren snapped back away from their chilling blankness. 

          They continued their car ride in near silence. Eren’s eyes flickering around the car. There was so much he didn't recognise, and even more than had changed. The clothes strewn about the floor were so different than what Eren was used to, and what Marco was wearing now. It confused Eren even more. He wanted to ask Marco for answers, find out what the clothes meant, and what the colorful plastic balls that covered the inside of his car were were. Eren glanced at Marco whose face was held in a slight scowl, eyebrows pulled down and lips pressed tight. Despite the uneasiness churning in his gut, Eren decided not to ask, scared he would get snapped at. His gaze moved back to the contents of the car. With Marco silently flustered from his argument with Jean, and Eren's confusion turning quickly into fear the car ride seemed to take much longer than it should have. 

 

          The police station was just out of town in an ideal location to reach both the center of town and it's rural sprawl. In fact it hadn't moved since its reconstruction in 1853. When they pulled into the parking lot Marco groaned.

          "I told you not to come you stupid little... uhg." 

          Eren followed his gaze to a man about Marcos height leaning against a different car. His arms were crossed and his leg bent, the heel hooked on the front curve of the car. He was wearing dark jeans and a tight shirt that had some kind of symbol on it. It fit in with the strange clothes he had seen in the back of Marco’s car. The man, who Eren could only assume was Jean, pushed himself of his own car and leaned against Marcos as they pulled in next to him. 

          "So this is our famous little serial killer hu." Jean said as soon as Marco had his window down. Marco's eyes flickered onto Eren "Yea. But Jean..."

          Before he could finish Eren interrupted.

          "I didn't kill anybody!" He yelled. Achieving more in sounding like a child than convincing them of his innocence.

          Jean scoffed back "Like hell you didn't"

          Before Eren could shout something back Marco put up his hands to stop them. "Would you both stop! This is not the time for this. Can we just get Eren into the police station before Levi get's here and  _ he  _ kills somebody?" 

          Sending suspicious glances at each other the two agreed. Marco leaned over Eren to unlock his cuff, much to Jean's displeasure, and then they both stepped out of the car. Eren only had a small amount of trouble finding the handle after watching Marco.

          When Eren had gotten out of the car Marco and Jean were already a bit of a ways off whispering to each other. Jeans hands were on Marco’s wrists, and despite their closeness not being anything out of place for Eren they did seem more intimate than normal.

          Eren looked around. He remembered the station from when he was alive. It was a little building on the outside of town that served as a jail, courthouse, and a base for there less than efficient Sheriff. It had been remodeled since his death, the paint had been changed and a new section annexed on. The bell tower on top still stood strong though. Staring at it made him feel queasy, it was the same as he had last seen it, with its barred windows and slanted roof, but at the same time he knew it was so drastically different. 

          His gaze was stuck on the bell tower as a paralyzing fear took him over. His head turned slowly, dread building up as his heart started beating faster. His nails pushed crescents into his already bloody palms.

          Then he was looking right at it.

          The Oak was twisted and an eerie glow pushed through it's limbs. Though it was rather low to the ground it was thick and had branches twisting out, as though they were reaching for something unobtainable. It had gotten taller since he had last seen it, reaching up into the long wires held up by wooden posts.

          Eren's breath stuttered, coming in sporadic huffs as panic set in. Fading images of the police station and the violent faces of his neighbors flashed through his mind. Despite how much had changed the tree was still there, and the station was still there, and he was still terrified.

          “Hey douchebag! We don't have all fucking night!” He barely registered Jean’s voice through his panic.

          “What are you even looking at?” He yelled again walking over to where Eren was standing, with Marco not far behind. “What? It's just a damn tree! Come on!”

          Jean reached to drag Eren, but a hand on his wrist stopped him. He turned to look at Marco, whose gaze was flickering back and from Eren to the tree.

          “Eren” Marco said in a cautious voice. “We need to go into the station now. Will you come with me?”

          Marco stepped forward to pull Eren, losing his grip on Jean's wrist. Eren jumped when Marco's hand touched his shoulder, and he slowly turned his head to meet Marco's eyes.

          “Eren” Marco started again, slower and less threatening. Eren was starting to scare him, the aggressive look in his eyes not matching the deadpan expression he had on his face. . 

          Eren was on edge, so much was happening at once. This new world he had been thrown into was so different than what he knew. He hadn't had time to think about it yet, not in depth. But it had been over a hundred years! Everything he knew, everyone he loved, was gone. But these people knew him. Everyone he talked to knew his name, and the implications of that on his life, on what happened to Armin, terrified him.

          “I-I don’t.” Eren stuttered. “Wheres Armin? Did he? I mean if I came back….” 

          There was silence. Marco froze he had no idea what he was supposed to do. With high profile returnies the protocol was to bring them to the police station with little to no knowledge of what had happened since there death. But Eren looked so worried, like he was genuinely concerned about what had happened to Armin. So despite everything, his job, the town, Levi, the ever impending Jeager case. Marco decided, he was going to tell Eren. 

 

          “You should know jackass” Jean spat, before Marco could even decide which part to tell first. “I mean you're the one who slit his pretty little throat right?”

          In a split second Eren's eyes, already predatory, tense and ready to pounce, lit up. His sunken eyes and pale skin contorted into a nightmare. The white line around his neck standing out. He was ready to fight, and Marco didn't think this was a fight Jean could win. So before anyone could even move, Marco gave into fear, and rumor, and went against everything he preached. He unclipped his gun, turned the safety off, and fired. 

  
  
  


          Erwin Smith had been police chief for a long time. Up until seven years ago there wasn't much he had not seen. Than the dead rose from their graves and one of the most notorious white collar criminals from the 1950’s broke into his living room to steal a coat. After that Erwin Smith could safely say he had seen everything. 

          He always stayed in the station during awakenings. Levi could be trusted with the graveyard, it was Erwin’s job to give anyone who found an awakened off cemetery grounds a place to bring them. It was his decision to separate the awakened by temper, give the living guns for safety and control, and to put Levi in charge of the cemetery. He took pride in what there town had accomplished. 

          This awakening had by far been one of the quietest. No re-deaths yet, or real fighters. Levi reported it to be relatively small this round and so far no one outside of the cemetery had woken up. He took it as a sign that his team was getting better. 

          Than he heard the gunshot. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I haven't updated in like 16 months but I have had this written for like a year so.   
> Sorry the fuck outta me.   
> Especially to my Beta because I left you in the dirty after you were really a swell person and and really really big help!  
> Anyway. I suck we suck. Shitty cliff hanger. Still no Armin. Lets go.

**Author's Note:**

> This is defiantly a work in progress.  
> Tell me what you think!  
> Also I will add more warnings as I go along but for now they would be spoilers for what I have planed.


End file.
